Man hospitalized after heroin overdose at Creekside Pizza

An Ashland man overdosed on heroin Friday night at Creekside Pizza Bistro, a popular downtown restaurant and bar, police said.

Hannah Guzik

An Ashland man overdosed on heroin Friday night at Creekside Pizza Bistro, a popular downtown restaurant and bar, police said.

Drug paraphernalia, including a bag of syringes and a burnt spoon, was found at the restaurant after the 34-year-old man, whose name has not been released, was rushed to the hospital, according to police.

Updates on the man's condition were not available but he appears to have survived the overdose, said Sgt. Bob Smith with the Ashland Police Department.

"This young man's lucky he's alive," he said.

Officers were called to the scene at 5:25 p.m. Friday after Ashland Fire and Rescue learned that the medical emergency was due to a drug overdose, Smith said.

The incident, which occurred at a restaurant frequented by local families, was an unusual one for Ashland, he said.

"We don't respond to many heroin overdoses inside of a business," Smith said.

The overdose shows how harmful drugs such as heroin can be, he added.

"Heroin is a very dangerous drug and this is just an example of how dangerous it can be," he said. "And I think that if you don't believe that there are drugs in the community then you are naive. Every community is impacted by these dangerous drugs."